Visual Basic AutoCAD Civil3D Add-In

8/9/2019 Visual Basic AutoCAD Civil3D Add-In

1/12

TECHNICAL WHITEPAP

Using Visual Studio Express 2012 to Create

an AutoCAD and Civil 3D 2015 .NET Add-in

Introduction

This document provides a step-by-step tutorial on how to create, load and debug a simple VB .NET applica-

tion for AutoCAD using the Visual Studio Express development environment. The document focuses on set-

ting up and using the Visual Studio Express environment. We do not elaborate on the AutoCAD .NET API

itself. There are resources noted at the end of this tutorial to help with learning the AutoCAD .NET API.

Creating the Project

1) Launch Visual Studio 2012 Express Edition

2) Select the Menu item File New Projector type Ctrl+N. The New Project dialog will appear:

3) Select the Class LibraryTemplate (shown above) and enter a suitable name in the Name: text

eld. Here, we chose MyVBAcadApp.


2/12

Page 2 Using Visual Studio Express 2012 to Create an AutoCAD and Civil 3D 2015 .NET Add-in

imaginit.com800-356-9050

US/CANADA

4) A new Project is created and the Visual Studio Express window should look something like this:

Create a AutoCAD VB .NET Application

1.1 Set Target Framework and Compile Options

1) In your Visual Studio 2012 Express window you should see the Solution Explorer tab on the right. If

you dont see it, click the ViewSolution Explorermenu item or type Ctrl+W+S.

2) Go to the Solution Explorertab on the right side of the Visual Studio 2010 Express window select

the Show All Filesbutton as shown below.

3) Select the project folder MyVBAcadApp, right click and select properties.

4) In the application tab Ensure that .NET Framework 4.5 is the target framework.
http://imaginit.com/http://imaginit.com/


3/12



US/CANADA

5) Select the Compile tab and in the Target CPU select x64to compile to 64bit

1.2 Adding the Required References

1) Go to the Solution Explorertab on the right side of the Visual Studio 2012 Express window select

the Show All Filesbutton as shown below.

2) The above step will display the Referencesfolder in the Solution Explorer as shown below.

3) Right-click on the References folder and select Add Referenceitem in the resulting context

Reference Manager menu.

4) Click on the Browsebutton and Navigate to the location of the AutoCAD-specic Reference les.

Note:You will nd AutoCAD-specic reference les in a couple of locations. If you have ObjectARX

SDKinstalled, you can navigate to the Include folder (I would navigate to C:\ObjectARX\2012\inc-

win32for 32 bit platforms and C:\ObjectARX\2012\inc-x64for 64 bit) for the references. In the snap

shot above, we navigated to the inc-win32 folder.


4/12



US/CANADA

Alternatively, you can navigate to the AutoCAD or Civil 3D Install Folderand nd the references

there as shown below:

5) Select the DLL les acmgd.dll, acdbmgd.dll and AcCoreMgd.dllfrom the location you browse to

and click the ADDbutton. These les contain all the necessary .NET APIsto create a generic Auto

CAD .NET application

You can also type *mgd.dll to lter for the required assemblies.

Click OKto close the Reference Manager dialog.

6) In the solution explorer window to the right select each of the references and in the properties

window change the Copy Local to False. (If this copy local is true then the dll does not load properly

when debugging).


5/12



US/CANADA

Select the DLL les acmgd.dll, acdbmgd.dll, AcCoreMgd.dll and AecBaseMdg.dll, AecDBMgd.

dllfrom the location you browse to and click the OKbutton. These les contain all the necessary

.NET APIsto create a generic AutoCAD .NET application.

Note: You can select multiple les (two les in this case) by pressing the Ctrl key while selecting

them with the mouse.

7) Now that we have the classes referenced we can import them. Add the necessary Namespacesto

the source les for convenient access to the AutoCAD .NET APIs. Here are the most commonly used

AutoCAD .NET API specic namespaces:

ImportsAutodesk.AutoCAD.ApplicationServices

ImportsAutodesk.AutoCAD.EditorInput

ImportsAutodesk.AutoCAD.Runtime

ImportsAutodesk.AutoCAD.DatabaseServices

You can add these namespaces at the top of the Class1.vbsource le as shown below.

Note:We will not be elaborating on the purposes of the namespaces and the AutoCAD .NET APIs in

this tutorial. You can nd a lot more information on this in the references provided at the end of thistutorial.

1.3 Creating a Command

Add the command method that implements the command(s) you need. Here is an example of a com-

mand method implementing the command we use:

Dene command MyVBCommand

_

Public SubCmd1() This method can have any name

Type your code here

DimedAsEditor = Application.DocumentManager.MdiActiveDocument.Editor

ed.WriteMessage(My First command implemented in VB .NET Express Edition)

End Sub

Note:We will not be elaborating on the creation of commands and the AutoCAD .NET APIs in this

tutorial. You can nd a lot more information on this in the references provided at the end of this tutorial.


6/12



US/CANADA

Here is a snapshot of how the command code would look like:

Now we have a functional AutoCAD VB .NET project!

1.4 Save the Project

You can save the project by clicking the FileSave All menu item or using Ctrl+Shift+S.

1.5 Build the Project

The last step is to Buildthe application. Use theBuildBuildmenu item to build your application.

You now have a functional AutoCAD VB .NET Application!

1.6 Debugging the Application

You can load your compiled application into AutoCAD now using the NETLOAD command and run the

application by typing myVBCommand at the command prompt, however, before we can truly debug our

application we have to edit our ApplicationName.vbproj.user le so that Visual Studio Express 2012 can

play nice with AutoCAD.

1.7 Set the Debug Application Path

The Visual Studio 2012 Express Edition does not provide any method through its user interface to specify

a debug application path to launch AutoCAD from the Visual Studio 2012 Express Edition environment.

So we have to play a small trick here:

1) Save the project and close Visual Studio 2012 Express Edition.

2) Navigate to the location of the project in Windows Explorer. My Project is in the folder

C:\My Documents\Visual Studio 2012\Projects\MyVBAcadApp\MyVBAcadApp.


7/12



US/CANADA

3) Open the Project le in a text editor. I used Notepad as the

text editor and my application project le is named MyVBAcadApp.vbproj.user. You will notice that

it is an XML le. Add the following two XML Nodes:

false

Program

C:\Program Files\Autodesk\AutoCAD 2015\acad.exe

Note: The StartProgramnode stores the path of the AutoCAD application acad.exe. You will

have to modify this path to the correct path to the acad.exe executable on your machine.

Here is a snapshot of my VBPROJ.user le opened in notepad:

4) Save the VBPROJ.user le.

5) The next step is to set up the debugger.

1.8 Loading our VB .NET Application into AutoCAD

Finally we are done all our setup for creating our VB project as well as setting up you VBE debugger.

1) Select the StartDebugMenu item or press F5. This will launch the AutoCAD application from the

Visual Studio 2012 Express Edition debugging environment.


8/12



US/CANADA

2) Once AutoCAD is launched, run the NETLOADcommand. This will display the Choose .NET

Assembly dialog (as shown below):

3) Navigate to the location of your built application. My application lived in the

C:\My Documents\Visual Studio 2012\Projects\MyVBAcadApp\MyVBAcadApp\bin\Debug folder.

4) Select the application DLL and click Open. The application is now loaded into AutoCAD.

5) Run the command MyVBCommand (or the command name that you dened in your .NET

application.).

6) As per the line in your code

ed.WriteMessage(My First command implemented in VB .NET Express Edition)

The message will be displayed in the command prompt.

1.9 Set a Breakpoint in the Code

1) In VS2012 Set the cursor at the line of code to which you want to break.

2) Click the DebugToggle Breakpointmenu item or press the F9 key. Here is a snapshot of the

break point at the point of code where we set the Editor object (The Red dot indicates the break point):


9/12



US/CANADA

3) In AutoCAD, run the command (in our case MyVBCommand) on the AutoCAD command line and

you will see the break point hit:

You can now use the debugger keys like F8 or Shift+F8 etc. to traverse through the code.

Congratulations, you have successfully used Visual Studio 2012 Express Edition to create and use a

.NET application in AutoCAD!

Create a Civil 3D .NET Application

2.1 Adding the Required References

1) We need to add C3D references, in the solution explorer Right-clickon the Referencesfolder

and select Add Reference

2) Browse to the Civil 3D Install Folder(the default location is C:\Program Files\Autodesk\AutoCAD

2015\ACA) and select and add the AecBaseMgd.dll.

3) Next we need to add the C3D references, browse to the Civil 3D Install Folder(the default location isC:\Program Files\Autodesk\AutoCAD 2015\C3D) and select and add the AecDbMgd.dll.

4) Once these references have been added, ensure you change the properties to set Copy Localto

False.

5) Add the necessary Namespacesto the source les for convenient access to the Civil 3D .NET APIs.

ImportsAutodesk.Civil.ApplicationServices

ImportsAutodesk.Civil.DatabaseServices.Styles

6) Add the command method that implements the command(s) you need.

a. Here is an example of the command method implementing the command we use: I received the

following from my buddy Partha at Autodesk (although I have not had the pleasure of having a beer

with Partha I will consider him a friend, for all the help I got from him).


10/12



US/CANADA

_

Public SubGetTheAlignmentStyles()

This sample Demonstrates Accessing the Alignment Styles collection

Created by Partha Sarkar - DevTech, Autodesk

DimtransAsTransaction= HostApplicationServices.WorkingDatabase.TransactionManager.Start-

Transaction()

DimcivilDocAsCivilDocument= Autodesk.Civil.ApplicationServices.CivilApplication.ActiveDocument

DimedAsEditor= Autodesk.AutoCAD.ApplicationServices.Application.DocumentManager.MdiActi-

veDocument.Editor

Try

DimoAlignmentStylesAsAlignmentStyleCollection= civilDoc.Styles.AlignmentStyles

MsgBox(This DWG File has : + oAlignmentStyles.Count.ToString + Alignment Styles !)

DimalignmentStyleIdAsObjectId= Nothing

DimoAlignmentStyleAsAlignmentStyle= Nothing

For EachalignmentStyleId InoAlignmentStyles

oAlignmentStyle = trans.GetObject(alignmentStyleId, OpenMode.ForWrite)

MsgBox(Style Name : + oAlignmentStyle.Name.ToString)

Next

trans.Commit()

CatchexAsException

ed.WriteMessage(Exception Message is : + ex.Message.ToString())

Finally

trans.Dispose()

End Try

End Sub

Note:We will notbe elaborating on the creation of commands and the AutoCAD .NET APIs in this

tutorial. You can nd a lot more information on this in the references at the end of this tutorial.


11/12



US/CANADA

Here is a snapshot of how the command code would look like:

7) Now that your Civil 3D application is created, as in the AutoCAD steps above you can proceed to:

a. 1.4 Save the Project

b. 1.5 Build the Project

c. 1.8 Loading our VB .NET Application

d. And nally run the app by typing StylesAlignmentInfo at the command prompt.

8) The app will display all the alignment styles in your current drawing.

Debug AutoLoad .dll with Script le(addendum by Justin Ralston 06-12-2010 02:08 AM)

To speed up the debug process create a .scr script le with the following contains to do the netload and

open your test drawing.


12/12



US/CANADA

Once you have created the script le add the command line arguments to VB.net Express at the following

location.

References:

1) Developer Center for AutoCAD (www.autodesk.com/developautocad): This website provides a variety

of learning resources such as DevTV: Introduction to AutoCAD .NET Programming, an excellent

introduction to the AutoCAD .NET API and AutoCAD .NET Labs, a comprehensive set of self-learning

tutorials. The Developer Center lists many other free development resources, including links to the

Autodesk discussion groups for the various AutoCAD APIs.

2) Through the Interface Blog (http://through-the-interface.typepad.com/): A very interesting and

engaging blog on all AutoCAD APIs and allied technologies

3) Autodesk Developer Network: For professional support for your software development work, consider

joining the Autodesk Developer Network program. Visit www.autodesk.com/joinadnfor more details ofthe program.

About the Author: Malcolm Fernandes

Malcolm has a wealth of practical experience in the area of Urban Planning, Geomatics, Transportation, Environmental

Design, Engineering Construction, and Urban Design. Some of the projects on which hes worked as a project manager,

designer, or surveyor include airport runways, drainage channels, golf courses, storm ponds, railway lines, DND weapons

ranges, highways, recreational sites, commercial sites, and urban and rural subdivisions.

Malcolm has also worked with a variety of engineering software solutions and has been responsible for setting

standards and design work-ow to increase efciency in the design and construction of civil engineering projects.

Malcolm has recently worked with a number of Transportation Engineering clients in western and central Canada,involving training, customization and mentoring on transportation projects; This sometimes also included develop-

ing applications i.e. vb.net subassemblies, VBA or simply XML design criteria le. to bridge the gap in Civil 3D in a

production environment.

All brand names, product names, or trademarks belong to their respective holders.

IMAGINiT Technologies, Inc. is not responsible for typographical or graphical errors that may appear in this document.

2014 IMAGINiT Technologies, Inc., All Rights Reserved.
http://imaginit.com/http://www.autodesk.com/developautocadhttp://through-the-interface.typepad.com/http://www.autodesk.com/joinadnhttp://www.autodesk.com/joinadnhttp://through-the-interface.typepad.com/http://www.autodesk.com/developautocadhttp://imaginit.com/